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Fanfare / Ponent Mon will reprint several manga by the late Jiro Taniguchi, including The Summit of the Gods, as well as Hideo Azuma's Disappearance Diary and Kiriko Nananan's Blue. The Summit of the Gods reprint arrives in July 2026 to mark the Everest ascent anniversary; other reprints follow later this year.
The premiere of Kill Blue introduces Juzo Ogami, a 40-year-old assassin who kills only the worst criminals and has never known a normal life. After being stung by a genetically-modified wasp during a mission, he regresses to a 13-year-old boy. Now he must attend middle school to protect his boss's daughter while a cure is sought. Anime Feminist's review praises the casual atmosphere and strong action sequences, which effectively convey Juzo's decades of experience. However, the reviewer expresses significant discomfort with several narrative elements. There is concern the series may pair the adult-minded Juzo with a middle school love interest, a dynamic the reviewer considers difficult to handle well. The premiere also includes a scene where a comrade hesitates to save girls from a panda-masked pervert, which the reviewer found troubling. The reviewer notes Juzo's excitement at discovering he loves learning, calling it bittersweet given his denied childhood. The review concludes the series is not the most original concept but was enjoyable, and notes the completed manga suggests a full adaptation.
McDonald's Japan has released a new collaboration commercial with the classic delinquent manga Rokudenashi Blues, promoting the limited-time Spicy Chicken McNuggets menu. Actor Godon Maeda reprises his role as protagonist Futoshi Maeda in two episodes, the "Sauce Four Heavenly Kings" and "Futoshi vs. Summer." The ads begin airing May 26, and the menu item launches May 27.
The official website for the Grand Blue Dreaming anime revealed a key visual and the opening theme song artist for the third season on May 24, a date recognized as "Scuba Diving Day" in Japan due to a wordplay on "Go to Sea." The band FUNKY MONKEY BΛBY'S will perform the opening theme song titled "Natsuko." The season is set to premiere in July on Tokyo MX, BS11, MBS, and AT-X channels. This season will take the cast to Palau, marking the first time the setting has been outside Japan. New cast members include Sayaka Ohara as Sayaka Kotegawa, Asami Seto as Chief, and Aya Suzaki as Maki. The second season ended in September 2025, and the third season was announced shortly after its finale. The anime is produced by studios Zero-G and Saber Works, with Shinji Takamatsu returning as director, scriptwriter, and sound director. The manga by Kenji Inoue and Kimitake Yoshioka began serialization in Kodansha's Good! Afternoon magazine in April 2014 and has 26 volumes as of April 2026.
Masahori Morita's boxing manga Rokudenashi Blues teams up with McDonald's Japan for a second collaboration, this time promoting Spicy Chicken McNuggets with a new commercial airing from May 26. The ad features Gōdon Maeda reprising his role as Gōdon Taizen and the "Sauce Four Heavenly Kings" battling over sauce choices.
The Japan Football Association announced FUTURE CAMP inspired by BLUE LOCK, a scouting initiative for young Japanese-heritage players abroad, with the first camp set for August 2026 in Irvine, California. The project partners with SCO Group and plans to expand to Europe and Asia.
Netflix announced on Tuesday that it will stream the re-edited film version of Yohei Kameyama's indie CG anime Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express in the U.S. starting June 1. The film, which opened in Japan on February 6 and earned over 151 million yen in its first three days, is a compilation of the 12-episode series with new content. It follows super human Chiharu (voiced by Momoka Terasawa) and cyborg Makina (Anna Nagase) who are sentenced to clean an interplanetary train as community service. Alongside this title, Netflix listed seven other anime beginning U.S. streaming in May and June: BLUE LOCK VS. U-20 JAPAN and My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 on May 25; Assassination Classroom Season 2, Shangri-La Frontier Season 2, One Piece: Whole Cake Island 6 and 7, and Akane-banashi on June 1. The Milky☆Subway film is a follow-up to Kameyama's 2022 short Milky☆Highway, which started as a graduation project and has accumulated over 8.7 million views on YouTube. Kameyama directed, wrote, produced, and handled character designs, modeling, and animation mostly alone. A new version with added scenes, titled Extra Service Milky☆Subway Local Train to the Theater, will screen in Japan starting June 12 in MX4D, 4DX, and 2D formats.
The live-action Blue Lock film has cast Sōshō Tomimoto as Ikki Niko and Keisuke Kida as Hibiki Ohkawa. The film, directed by Yūsuke Taki and produced by CREDEUS, opens in Japan on August 7.
The summer anime guide from ASCII.jp confirms Grand Blue Season 3 will air in July 2026, moving the college comedy to Palau. The teaser PV shows the usual Izu University crew causing trouble before the overseas trip. Director Shinji Takamatsu returns. The series also earned a spot on the 2026 list of 88 anime holy lands for its Ito City setting.
The free streaming channel It's Anime has locked in a weekly release schedule for the Kill Blue adaptation, giving North American viewers a regular Saturday night slot for new subtitled episodes and a one-week turnaround on the English dub. Subtitled episodes will premiere Saturdays at 10:00 PM EST on Samsung TV Plus and other FAST platforms, arriving shortly after the Japanese broadcast. The English dub of episodes 1 and 2 launched day-and-date with the subtitled version. Starting with episode 3, each new dubbed episode will follow within one week of its subtitled counterpart. The series adapts Tadatoshi Fujimaki's Weekly Shonen Jump manga about a 39-year-old hitman, Juzo Ogami, who is transformed into a 13-year-old boy and forced to infiltrate a middle school. Ray Chase voices the adult Ogami and Caitlyn Elizabeth voices the child version, with Kayli Mills, Khoi Dao, and Dawn M. Bennett in supporting roles. It's Anime, operated by Tokyo-based REMOW, positions Kill Blue as the most widely available anime of 2026, distributing it free and ad-supported across Samsung TV Plus and VIZIO WatchFree+.
Director and manga artist Katsuhiro Ōtomo has founded a new animation studio called Oval Gear. The studio will focus on feature-length work. Its first project is already in production. The company is hiring animators and production staff as it builds out its team. Ōtomo is best known for the 1988 film Akira, which he directed and wrote based on his own manga. His other directing credits include the anthology Memories, the steampunk feature Steamboy, and the science-fiction story Roujin Z. He also contributed to Perfect Blue, the psychological thriller directed by the late Satoshi Kon. The formation of Oval Gear marks a return to feature animation for Ōtomo, whose last full-length directorial work was Steamboy in 2004. The studio name and its immediate hiring push suggest a permanent production base rather than a one-off project team. No release window or title for the first film has been shared.
The May 2026 print release slate adds two Boys' Love debuts alongside a wave of continuing volumes. Seven Seas Entertainment publishes the third volume of the full-color webtoon Lost in the Cloud on May 5, the same day Tokyopop issues the second volume of Monster and Ghost in paperback and hardcover. WEBTOON Unscrolled collects the complete supernatural series The Reaper and The Waiting into a single graphic novel. Vertical Comics releases Voices in the Sea Foam, a one-shot BL manga from Magazine Be x Boy about a college student who recalls a past life as a mermaid. Yen Press moves A Long and Short Love Story to May 12. Viz Media has no BL titles in the window but ships Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi volume one, Blue Box volume 20, and Boruto: Two Blue Vortex volume 5. Square Enix Books puts out The Art of Final Fantasy XVI: Echoes of the Rising Tide and the ninth Apothecary Diaries light novel. Kodansha Manga prints the Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition omnibus and Stella Must Die. Inklore continues Wet Sand with volume three. The dates were compiled from publisher listings and are subject to change.